Park City 98: indieBUZZ ++ January 17, 1998

Park City 98: indieBUZZ ++ January 17, 1998

Michael Steinberg’s new film “Wicked” has been picked up, according to a sourceclose to the film, an announcement is expected next week. The source told BUZZthat the acquiring company is a brand new distribution entity with at least oneof the principles being a “household name”. The film is a movie which theSundance Film Guide describes as “a suburban horror story or family thriller.”

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A source close to the film reports that “Out of the Past”, Jeff Dupre’s Utah-setdocumentary revolving around 17 year-old Kelli Peterson as she attempts toestablish a Gay-Straight Alliance at her Salt Lake City high school, is “inplay.” A distributor that has had success with non-fiction films in the pastis rumored to have expressed interest.

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Buzz was ready to party on Friday, as we finally had a few minutes to ourselvesthis evening, to prepare. The day’s work was done, so we retired to the jacuzziwith a Cutty Sark and soda and a sampling of Blue Dot Thai. About 30 minuteslater, we climbed the stairs, showered and put on our spiffy duds. The firstFriday evening, Main St. Park City played host to three big bashes. It was on toevent number one. The party for “Orgazmo” was not as wacky as one would think,given the film and the filmmakers. Several wacky and non-wacky folks of noteattended, including “Buffalo 66” helmer and star, Vincent Gallo, Jonathan Sehringand Caroline Kaplan of the IFC, director/producer RJ Cutler and IMAGE honcho AnneHubbell. Buzz assumes that filmmakers Trey Parker and Matt Stone attended, butwe didn’t see them.

The Riverhorse Cafe celebration for the premiere of Tom DiCillo’s “The RealBlonde” was a celeb-studded bash that welcomed, among others: Harvey Weinstein,Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck, Lawrence Bender, David Arquette, Phil Donahueand Marlo Thomas, and stars Matthew Modine, Catherine Keener, Daryl Hannah, andElizabeth Berkely, who was talking about learning Russian phonetically for a newmovie. The event was the hottest ticket of the night and saw droves of celebscramming the balcony overlooking the growing crowd of would-be attendees below.

Up the street at the opening night of Slamdance, a big crowd jammed the basementthe old Mrs. Fields Cookie Factory (site for last years Slumdance) for atecho-bash featuring Moby. The crowd sweated and swayed to the pulsating beats.Near the end of the show, Moby surveyed the crowd on its favorite film of theyear — his was “Starship Toopers.” Commenting on the movie, he proclaimed,“giant bugs, fascism and outer space — what could be better!” The bashadmirably captured the Spirit of The Slum of ’97, and the good feelingsabounded, with many folks, including Peter Byck (“Garbage”), noted attorneyJed Alpert, Next Wave’s Tara Veneruso, and of course, Buzz, hanging out untilthe late hours.

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Overheard by BUZZ on the way home from the opening night party: “Now that’s aportent of the apocalypse.”…”What?”…”A stretch limo in Park City.” HasSundance become the “Mountain Cannes?” “Cannes With American Cheese Cubes?”